COnsole and Computer RPG easter eggs  	                                                     
Scrambled or Over Easy?
by  Ronald Wartow

According to the Easter Egg Archive (http://www.eeggs.com/)..............Stop reading! Let’s ponder what I just penned. Sure, the Web has just about everything on anything, but an Easter egg archive? Someone actually created and maintains such a site! Clear your mind of any notions of White House Easter Egg rolls, or the mess every wee one makes at home, after their teachers, most regrettably, instruct them on painting eggs. 
Back to the Easter Egg Archive. To them, “The term ‘Easter Egg‘.....means any amusing tidbit that creators hid in their creations. They could be in computer software, movies, music, art, books, or even your watch. There are thousands of them, and they can be quite entertaining, if you know where to look. This site will help you discover Easter Eggs in the things you see and use everyday, and let you share Easter Eggs you discover with the rest of the world.” 
Easter Eggs (EE) became trademarks of the early computer and videogame consoles, including many venerable RPG’s. EE‘s continue to be discovered, with regularity, even in some of the latest, hottest games, from Baldur‘s Gate to Dungeon Siege. 
Many Easter Eggs are inserted by or about overworked, haggard game designers and testers, who, for diversionary purposes, decide to memorialize their efforts. Others are just plain mistakes. Still others are inserted to give the clever, exploring gamer a treat when an EE is uncovered. One truth about EE’s is that, except in rare circumstances, their existence is never revealed by their creators. Rather, it takes gamers, some with a LOT of time of their hands, to expose these delicacies. There’s no set path to EE discovery in an RPG. Sometimes, pure luck is involved.  
What follows is are my favorite EEPEBMIRPG’s (Easter Eggs Personally Experienced By Me In RPG‘s) (Pronounced ”eepebmirpg“)). Check out the dozen or so EE sites, and upload your own EE’s. Revisit some of the RPG’s, mentioned below, and see if you can recreate their EE’s. Easter Egg Archive displays comments from visitors, and they are absolutely priceless.
Ÿ	 Final Fantasy VII (Playstation and PC)
If you ever played this game, you know that the hero, despite his really big sword, tended to fall into dreamlike states on a regular basis. This was usually accompanied ingame by a lengthy cut scene, disappointingly, without an escape option. 
Some were tortuous, to say the least, but out of one of those came an extremely clever EE. During his dreamy Playstation mumbling Cloud utters the word “Zenogias”; during his PC mumbling he utters “Xenogears”. If you pronounce the former with an American Southern accent, the words are identical. 
This fabulous EE was really an advertisement for Square’s upcoming non-Final Fantasy RPG “Xenogears“. (As an aside, during my writing of the Official Xenogears Strategy Guide, I was reminded of Cloud’s utterances in Final Fantasy VII, and cracked up.)
Another EE from this game involved the number 7, apparently a very important one to the game’s programmers. If your maximum hit points is at 7777, when you enter battle, Cloud will go nuts and do 7777 damage continually to enemies. At the end of a battle, the hero, justifiably, collapses in a heap.
Ÿ	Baldur’s Gate (PC)
Most RPG’s eventually require the player to slog through some type of cemetery or graveyard. Nothing earth shattering about that! Normally, you get a bunch of funny, and not-so-funny tombstone homages to the deceased.
In this game, the village near the Temple of Helm, you are in for an EE surprise. Suddenly, in this quiet, supposedly calm, part of the game, a major-league, powerful wizard appears. If you leave well enough alone, you get off with a warning. If you persist, well, burnt toast best describes your eventual application for your own tombstone.
Ÿ	Baldur’s Gate II (PC)
Many characters in the D&D computer games, like this one, use the name Drizzt, a legendary Drow Elf, who flourished in the so-called Underdark. Depending on how high your reputation is, when you encounter the “real” Drizzt coming out from the Underdark, he takes personal offense. Try to duplicate this from a saved game, and see what happens.
This is not a EEPEBMIRPG, but I came across it, and felt it belonged here.

Ÿ	Deus Ex (PC)
Another non-EEPEBMIRPG, but a real gem. Apparently, if you log onto Paul's computer Ton Hotel’s secret room, in his  e-mail is a message concerning a video Paul has ordered, one of which is "Blue Harvest". That was the "Blue Harvest" was the bogus title used during production by LucasFilms’ creators of  "Return of the Jedi"

Ÿ	Summoner
While I was viewing the final credits, I, followed a typical impulse to hit some buttons on the controller. I have no clue what I hit. The payoff was astounding. A film showing game   characters playing a D&D. It is hilarious!
Ÿ	Ultima VII
A gaming friend put me on to this. One of the givens about the Ultima series is gamers’ constant attempts to kill Lord British. Despite the programmers’ attempts to derail such efforts, in this game, it is possible. 
Lord British always walks under his throne room sign at noontime. If you click or double-click, I don’t remember which, while he’s there, the sign decapitates him.
I hope the above has sharpened your interest in this whole EE thing. When you find one, it’s pure heaven. Start looking, today!

Copyright Ronald Wartow 2002. All Rights Reserved. Permission to post or display this article on any website, or elsewhere, must be obtained from the author at rwartow@yahoo.com.